Click here for background and on any passage for word meanings and explanatory discussion. mir taqi mir (1722-1810) great classical poet of angst, romance and sufiyaana thoughts. Prolific with six diivaan of urdu and one of faarsi in addition to masnavi.
1
subh hui gulzaar ke taa’er¹ dil ko apne TaToleN haiN
yaad meN us Khud-rau² gul-e-tar³ ki kaise kaise boleN haiN    1.birds 2.self-grown, wild 3.fresh rose
The usual convention is that birds in the garden, when free are singing happy songs of love for the rose. When they are caged, they sing in sorrow for loss of freedom. When away from the garden they sing for loss of home. This is an unusual situation. They are in the garden, free and singing, but they are examining their own hearts. They don’t seem to like this gulzaar (the world, with its material restrictions). They remember the Khud-rau/wild rose and sing in its rememberance. A celebration of the free human spirit as opposed to the material body.
2
baaGh meN jo hum divaane se jaa nikleN haiN naalah-kunaaN¹
Ghunche² ho ho murGh³-e chaman ke saath hamaare boleN haiN     1.wailing, crying 2.unopened buds 3.birds
Even as the poet, in mad passion, is wailing in the garden other creatures join him in sorrow. The singing of birds is clear enough but buds joining them in song, is probabaly the unfurling of petals and the gentle clicking sound (chiTakna) that is musical.
3
yaar hamaara aasaaN¹ kya kuchh siina-kushaada² hum se mila
Khoon kareN haiN jab dil ko de band³ qaba³ ke kholeN haiN     1.easy, ready 2.open breast, open hearted 3.ties 4.robe
Normally it is very difficult to meet/get favours from the beloved. But this time she meets the poet readily (with open heartedness, or with an open/uncovered breast). She wounds his heart as she undoes the ties of her robe.
4
meNh¹ jo barse hai shiddat² se dekh andheri kya hai ye
yaa’ni³ tang⁴ ho hum aate haiN dil ko khol ke ro leN haiN     1.rain 2.heavy 3.it means, it is as if 4.tired
This heavy rain and darkness is as if we are tired (of this life) and are crying/weeping profusely.
5
vo dhobi ka kam milta hai mai’l¹-e dil oodhar hai bahut
ko’i kahe us se milte meN tujh ko kya hum dho leN haiN    1.stain, ill feeling
This she’r has clear indications of homosexual practice of the day. There is a school of thought that it may not be actual homosexual practice but an exaggerated poetic statement, in the same style as other such writing about the beloved. The washerman’s son is staying away, there is ill feeling in his heart. If you meet him, would you please ask him if he thinks that we ‘wash him out’. Probably the ‘wash him out’ means ‘misuse’ him. The only thing I can say about this sher is the juxtapostion of dhobi, mai’l and dho leN.
6
sarv¹ to hai sanjidah² lekin pesh³-e misra⁴-e qadd-e-yaar⁵
naa-mauzooN⁶ hi nikle hai jab dil meN apne toleN haiN   1.cypress 2.serious, beautiful 3.in front of, compared to 4.hemi-stitch/line of a she’r 5.stature of the beloved 6.inappropriate
The cypress is a symbol of tall slender beauty and dignified stature. That it is, but compared to the stature of the beloved it is inadequate.
7
marg¹ ka vaqfa² is raste meN kya hai mir samajhte ho
haare-maaNde³ raah ke haiN ham log koi dam⁴ so leN haiN 1.death 2.interval 3.unsuccessful and tired 4.moments
There is life and afterlife. In between the two is a brief period of death during which tired and defeated with the endeavour of material life we catch a few moments sleep. Ghalib too writes …
marg ek maaNdagi ka vaqfa hai
yaanii aage baRheNge dam le kar